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THE HOUSE 



OF THE 



American Society 



OP 



Civil Engineers, 



THE HOUSE 

OF THE 

American Society of Civil Engineers, 

220 West Fifty=seventh Street, 
NEW YORK CITY. 



AMERICAN 
SOCIETY OF 

CIVIL 
^ENGINEERS; 

k FOUNDED j 
.1852, 



For the information of the membership, it has been 
decided by the Board of Direction to issue a brief descrip- 
tion of the Society House, with illustrations prepared 
from photographs taken for the purpose. 

At least seventy-five per cent, of the total membership 
is Non-Resident, and many have never had an oppor- 
tunity to visit the headquarters of the Society, and, while 
photographs are necessarily inadequate, it is believed that 
those who have not seen the present House will be glad 
to have placed before them such illustrations as will give 
some idea of it, together with a statement as to its 
location and surroundings. 

Chas. Warren Hunt, 

Secretary. 
New York City, 
December 7TH, 1903. 




House of the American Society op Civil Engineers. 



HISTORICAL. 

The project for a building to be planned and erected 
solely for the use of a professional engineering society 
(the first project of this kind in America) was inaugurated 
in 1895. The matter was not undertaken with undue 
haste. Careful estimates of the resources of the Society 
were made, and the question was referred to the Business 
Meeting of the Annual Convention, which was held in 
June of that year near Boston. 

This meeting approved the project unanimously, and 
the whole matter was placed in the hands of the Board 
of Direction, with power. 

The present location, a lot on the south side of Fifty- 
seventh Street (one of the few New York streets which are 
100 feet wide), midway between Seventh Avenue and 
Broadway, was selected, because of many advantages. 

The general character of the location was well estab- 
lished, and entirely suitable for a building of this class. 
The Central Presbyterian Church occupies a large frontage 
immediately on the east, and on the opposite side of the 
street are the Fine Arts Building, and the " Osborn," and 
" Scarboro' Mansions," high-class apartment houses. The 



only building which has been added to the block since 
1896 is the private riding academy of Frank J. Gould, Esq., 
which is in no way objectionable, indeed, its fine fagade 
adds much to the general architectural excellence of the 
neighborhood. 

Three lines of surface cars run to the north and south 
within less than 200 yards of the building, and the cross- 
town surface line is only two short blocks away, on Fifty- 
ninth Street. Three stations of the Elevated Railroad 
{Fifty-eighth Street and Sixth Avenue, Fifty-ninth Street 
and Ninth Avenue, and Fifty-third Street and Eighth 
Avenue), are within short walking distance, and the 
Columbus Circle Station, of the new Underground Rapid 
Transit Road on Broadway, will be even more accessible. 

The building occupies a lot having a frontage of 50 
feet, with a depth of 107 feet on the east, and 114 feet on 
the west; the depth thus averaging 10 per cent, more 
than is usual in New York City lots. 

The prediction, made in a circular issued in May, 1896, 
that the increase in value of the property would be 
" certain and rapid," has been amply fulfilled, a conserva- 
tive estimate of the increase of value of the Society lot 
being from $50 000 to $60 000. 

A Building Committee, which was appointed on Jan- 
uary 15th, 1896, served continuously until the House was 
completed, and final payments made to the Architect and 
Builder, and upon its final report, dated October 4th, 1 
was discharged at its request. 



This Committee was made up as follows : 

George A. Just, Chairman; 

Chas. Warren Hunt, Thomas C. Clarke, 

Joseph M. Knap, Wm. R. Hutton, 

Chas. Sooysmith, Bernard R. Green, 

Geo. H. Browne. 

The total cost, including lot and vault privilege, Archi- 
tect's fees, insurance and taxes during construction, 
legal and other expenses, lighting plant, decorations and 
furniture, was $206 284.63. 

On the completion of final settlements, November 1st, 
1898, there was a mortgage of $85 000 at 5 per cent. On 
January 15th, 1903, this debt had been reduced to $55 000, 
which now bears interest at 4 per cent. 

The building was formally opened on November 24th, 
1897, at 3.30 p. M. The dedicatory exercises, in the Audi- 
torium, were presided over by B. M. Harrod, President of 
the Society, and were opened with a dedicatory prayer by 
the Right Reverend Henry C. Potter, Bishop of New 
York. 

Addresses were delivered by President Harrod, Gen- 
eral William P. Craighill, Past- President of the Society; 
J. G. Schurman, LL.D., President of Cornell University, 
and the Honorable Joseph H. Choate. The attendance 
was about five hundred and fifty. 

In the evening there was a " House Warming," of a 
more social nature, about seven hundred ladies and gentle- 
men being present. 




Figure 3.— Reception Room. 



GENERAL DESCRIPTION. 



As will be seen from the photograph of the exterior, 
there are four stories and a basement, and a brief explan- 
ation is here given, which, in connection with the 
photographs, will, it is hoped, make clear the purposes 
served by each part. 

One passes through the vestibule, which is in the 
center, to the Main Hallway (Figure 2), 10 feet wide and 
55 feet long, and on the left finds the Reception Room 
(Figure 3), and the Coat Room, where more than two 




Figure 4.— Secretary's Office. 



hundred hats and coats can be checked. At Annual 
Meetings it is necessary to use one of the basement rooms 
as an auxiliary. 

On the right is the Secretary's Office, consisting of two 
rooms (Figures 4 and 5). 

In Figure 2, the entrance to the Secretary's Office and 
to the Reception Room cannot be seen. The opening on 
the left is the Coat Room, and the doorway next to it 
leads to the Service Stairway (see Figure 15) which runs 
from the basement to the top floor. Beyond, the Main 
Stairway is seen. 




Figure 5.— Secretary's Office. 



The Board and Committee Room (heretofore known 
as the Lounging Room) may be seen in the background of 
Figure 2, its floor being several feet lower than that of the 
Main Hallway. This room is the full width of the building 
with a total depth of about 43 feet, and is shown in Figure 
6. With this room is connected a serving-room (not 
shown) from which the simple collations at ordinary 
meetings are served by a caterer. These collations are 
paid for by subscription of resident members, there being 
no club features connected with the Society House. 



Figure 7.— Main Stairway. 

As its name indicates, this room is also used for meet- 
ings of the Board of Direction and of Committees. 

The Main Stairway (Figure 7) ends in the well-lighted 
central hall of the second floor, on which are the Reading 
Room (Figure 8) and the Auditorium (Figure 9). 

The Reading Room occupies the whole second story 
front of the House, faces the north, and here are kept the 
latest files of all periodicals, publications of technical 
societies, in short, all current engineering literature. 
There are also shelves where new books are placed for a 
short period after their receipt. A section is also devoted 



permanently to such volumes as are often consulted, en- 
gineering handbooks, technical dictionaries, encyclopedias 
and the like. 

The Reading Room is open every day (except Sun- 
days, Fourth of July, Thanksgiving Day, and Christmas 
Day) from 9 a. m. to 10 p. m., an assistant librarian being 
always on duty to assist those consulting the library, and 
here the general card index is placed. Books are brought 
from the Stack Room, on the fourth floor, to the reader, 
unless he prefers to go there himself, which is sometimes 
the case, and is due to the fact that the method of class- 
ification adopted brings together on the shelves, as far as 
possible, books on specific subjects. 

The Auditorium, like the Board and Reading Rooms, 
occupies the entire width of the House, and its depth, 
without the speaker's stand or alcove, is 48 feet Its 
seating capacity is about four hundred. The chairs are 
movable, and those who have attended an Annual Meeting 
probably appreciate the fact that it is well adapted to 
purely social functions. Eighteen ordinary meetings are 
held during the year. 

An opening in the wall of this room, just above 
the floor of the third story, allows the use of a permanent 
electric lantern for the illustration of papers presented, 
the wall space at the rear of the rostrum being used in 
place of the usual screen. 

It will be seen that those visiting the house have 
seldom occasion or desire to go beyond the second floor, 
inasmuch as the Secretary's Office, Board and Committee 
Room, Reading Room and Auditorium are all on the first 




Figure 10.— Part of Third Floor. 



two floors and easy of access. The third floor is devoted 
entirely to the executive and editorial work, while the 
fourth floor is occupied exclusively by the Stack Room. 
For this reason no elevator was provided, and thus an un- 
necessary expense is avoided. 

The Service Stairway (Figure 15) leads to the third 
floor, and here the bookkeeping, mailing, editorial and 
general force is installed. Only part of this floor can be 
shown in a photograph, but its general use will be found 
well indicated in Figure 10. The floor space is about 
2 000 square feet. 




Figure 11.- Part of Stack Room. 



The Stack Room, reached only by the Service Stairway, 
is shown in part only in Figure n. The floor space is 
about 2 ooo square feet, and one tier of metal book stacks, 
with adjustable metal shelves, is now in use. Head-room 
has been provided for a duplication of the present stacks 
when needed. The capacity of these stacks is indicated 
by the fact that the total number of volumes (including 
specifications, maps, etc.) now indexed in the Library is 
about 48 000, and the capacity of the first tier of stacks 
is not nearlv reached. 




Figure 12.— Storage Room. 



The work of the Society makes it necessary to provide 
a large amount of storage room, and this is secured in the 
basement. Figures 12 and 13 show the two Storage 
Rooms where the method of storing the 121 000 copies of 
the various publications of the Society now on hand is 
indicated. These extra copies, which are kept for the 
convenience of Members and others, have cost the Society, 
for printing only, to date, more than $14 000. One of 
these rooms (Figure 13), which is at the front of the 




Figure 13.— Mailing Room. 



house, is also used as a Mailing Room for the publica- 
tions. This avoids the conveying of the entire edition of 
the monthly Proceedings and of the Volumes of Trans- 
actions to the third floor and back again. 

In the Basement the Janitor has comfortable quarters. 

The sidewalk on Fifty-seventh Street being 30 feet 
wide, the vault privilege was purchased from the City, 
and the Boiler Room, Coal Bins and Engine Room are 
there located, entirely separate from the building. 




Figure 14.— Engine Room. 



The Engine Room (Figure 14) contains two gas en- 
gines, of 25 Horse-Power each, with direct-connected 
dynamos, which furnish current for the lighting of the 
building. 

Heat is supplied from a low-pressure boiler. The 
entire house, with the exception of the Board Room and 
Auditorium, is heated by direct radiation, while in the 
two rooms mentioned the indirect method is used. 




Figure 15.— Service Stairway. 




019 928 360 1 



